Historic Landmark at Risk

Amid bureacratic disdain, SB Council has a last-ditch opportunity to save Anapamu Street's priceless Italian Stone Pines

By Cheri Rae

On Tuesday, Santa Barbara City Council members will decide whether to save a living piece of city history – or toss aside a segment of the urban landscape that has delighted residents and visitors for more than a century.

The issue: the Parks and Recreation Commission recently changed the designation of the official street tree of the 300 to 800 blocks of Anapamu Street, from Italian Stone Pines to Coast Live Oaks – in direct opposition to the Historic Landmark Commission, which unanimously recommended retention of the stone pines as the designated tree.

The Stone Pines are not just any street trees: They comprise a six-block-long City Historic Landmark, designated by City Council in 1997.

Count me among the many neighborhood residents and historic preservationists who object to this wrong-headed decision that diminishes our historic legacy. I am one of three appellants to that decision; the matter will be decided at a hearing by City Council on January 14 at City Hall at 2:00 p.m.

The landmark is officially named the “Doremus Pine Trees” in honor of the man who planted them, Dr. Augustus Boyd Doremus.

He was Santa Barbara’s first Parks Superintendent. How ironic that the parks department he founded and served so admirably would now so seriously overlook his horticultural and historical importance to our community and even contemplate—much less carry out—eliminating the magical forest in the city he created.

This disrespect wasn’t always the case. In the 1960s, newly hired City Parks Director Mike Pahos had his first meeting with legendary civic activist Pearl Chase under the canopy on Anapamu Street. She was not happy at how under his watch the beloved trees were being pruned. And she let him have it: “Look at that butchery!” she exclaimed.

Pahos learned a lesson from her that day, as he recounted decades later. “Thinking back, the local park system administration business is a very ‘nose to nose’ type of business. People love every stone, bush and tree in their neighborhood parks—and those beyond. That important lesson was taught to me by the best in the business. That was Pearl Chase. God rest her soul.”

Rooted in history. Doremus was a Civil War veteran who was well-schooled in horticulture during his many sojourns in the Mediterranean. When he moved to Santa Barbara for his health, he purchased a square block on the 600 block of Anapamu. On the hilltop, he built his large home and established a much-admired nursery where he planted seeds of many specimens imported from Europe that he then transplanted to parks and parkways to beautify his adopted town.

In 1908, Doremus was inspired to plant Italian Stone Pine seedlings from Italy on both sides of the wide, virtually empty, dirt street in front of his house on Anapamu and for blocks in either direction, where they were free to spread their roots and limbs.

As the trees grew, they created their distinctive canopy, which became a long-cherished characteristic of this historic part of town. It is the gateway to the Santa Barbara Bowl and Santa Barbara High School and much-beloved by drivers, pedestrians, visitors, and residents.

The landmarked trees were a source of pride and wonder for decades and investment in their care was prioritized. Today, however, the trees are neglected, their environment is degraded, and their association with the early Santa Barbara visionary is overlooked.

Over the years, paving this piece of paradise encroached on the trees’ habitat, encasing their root structure and stressing their ability to find water. Despite haphazard pruning and aggressive root cutting, the tough trees have buckled sidewalks, swallowed up sandstone hitching posts, cracked curbs and roadways in their struggle to survive in their degraded environment.

Many of the mighty trees have given up the fight against human encroachment on their historic stand to hold on and crashed to the ground in wind and rain. Once invited guests encouraged to make themselves at home, the trees are now officially viewed intruders on their own turf. The very idea of maintaining and replacing them considered too costly to bother with anymore by those long charged with their care.

It seems so unlike Santa Barbara to decide to let a living landmark die off and fade into distant memory.

The once-majestic six-block-long allée of Italian Stone Pines connects to its historic context of place and time. The notion of interchanging them with common oaks that have no such connection mocks our City’s time-honored approach to prioritizing historic preservation.

Further, oaks have their own set of issues with maintenance, including acorn dropping, periodic infestations of caterpillars and moths, and Sudden Oak Death Syndrome in coastal California. They are just some of the concerns that were not comprehensively addressed when the decision was made to choose them as the replacement tree.

Speaking for the trees. Back in 2013, Santa Barbara native and longtime historic preservationist Kellam de Forest sounded the alarm to the Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) about the conditions and inadequate care of the living landmarks after the Parks Department cut down one of the stone pines on Anapamu with no notice.

His concerns were taken seriously by the commissioners who summoned the city arborist to give an accounting of the issues he raised. The HLC made several recommendations to improve their care and communication, but those recommendations were never implemented, and the trees’ decline continued.

In 1997 when the trees were landmarked, 79 Italian Stone Pines were standing; in 2023, when botanist Emma Brinkman, preservationist Rick Closson, and I teamed up to study them 57 remained. Several more have been lost since then. We researched the history and care of these trees, inventoried and photographed them, and presented our findings to HLC and City officials in a comprehensive 78-page report.

Our intention was to have the opportunity to contribute to dialogue about how to deliver the care befitting a beloved City Historic Landmark at risk.

It took more than a year for our concerns to be heard. Instead of direct, open communication we hoped for, discussion was limited to the stilted, bureaucratic process of official hearings driven by the Parks and Recreation Department that has expressed little concern or purview over the trees’ historic status.

Our team is appealing that decision of the Parks and Recreation Commission to City Council, which would eventually eliminate and in effect “de-landmark” this living City Historic Landmark that predates all of us.

We are particularly alarmed by the implications of an appointed commission overturning a longstanding City Council decision made by elected officials.

Are we to believe the 1997 Council intended to establish a temporary City Historic Landmark—lasting only as long as the original trees? Or was it to preserve, protect, and re-plant Italian Stone Pines in perpetuity as significant elements of the history and landscape of that part of town?

After all, pines have long been the official street tree, and there is an established history of replacing felled pines with new ones. Except in the past decade.

Options and outcomes. Just blocks away from Anapamu Street we have an example of a flourishing stand of Italian Stone Pines located on the 700 block of North Quarantina Street. Thanks to their proximity to the “Storm Water Infiltration Project” established in 2016 by the Creeks Department, each of the trees has a bulb-out that protects its roots and the semi-permeable sidewalks and street give them room to grow and access to water.

Citizen action saved the Doremus Stone Pines once before: When years of drought threatened them, the Pearl Chase Society donated nearly $15,000 at the City’s request to provide innovative watering systems. City Arborist Nathan Slack expressed his appreciation noting, “It is a testament to the Pearl Chase Society for making such a community investment in the natural world and has gone to great lengths to invest in these very important trees.”

Our hope is that a citizens’ appeal to City Council will protect the Italian Stone Pines and reverse the decision to eliminate them.

Beyond that, establishing a standard of care for designated Historic Landmark Trees—of any kind—is essential; developing signage and interpretation of them would be an added benefit for the community.

The Council’s decision will reflect how present-day leadership regards our community’s historic legacy, how it values the importance of visionary founders who left their mark on this special place, and whether appointed citizen commissions have the power to overturn decisions made by elected City Council members.

Image: X marked the spot for one of the half-dozen Italian Stone Pines cut down this summer; on July 4 - the birthday of A.B.Doremus. Hand-painted memorials to the trees were distributed on the six-blocks of Anapamu in protest of the City's action (Monie Photography).